More Than Half of America Likes Obama Again

By Erik Hayden

Riding high from eliminating the world's most wanted terrorist, President Obama now boasts his highest approval rating in two years: 60 percent of Americans like him again. And, importantly, a slight majority (53 percent) actually want to see him in the White House for a second term. As far as single-serving public opinion polling goes, this is a decent showing for the president.

The AP/GfK poll that provided this briefly-heartening-for-Obama news also notes that Americans are also starting to warm to his handling of the economy: 52 percent approve his fiscal leadership, "giving him his best rating on that [all-important] issue since the early days of his presidency." Keeping the good news in check: 43 percent of electorate still wants to "fire" the President. You can't win them all.

As the Wire noted when the first post-bin Laden poll boost was recorded, these sorts of trends can lose momentum quickly: after Bush captured Saddam in 2003, for instance, his ratings increased 8-points but evaporated in mere weeks.

The RealClearPolitics rolling average, which doesn't yet include the AP/GfK poll, has shown a sharp uptick in Obama's approval numbers, but as we observed last month, the latest figures are still within the same tight band where results have been throughout much of his presidency.